23 year old Nigerian, Osarieme Omonuwa, set a record at the University of Reading to become the first black woman to earn a first class degree in the history of the 121-year-old institution.

The Edo State born Omonuwa not only arrived at the Nigerian Law School with a University of Reading, first class degree in Law, but also emerged as the very first Nigerian to graduate the final bar examination from overseas with a first class Bachelors at Law (BL) degree, a feat in the 51-year existence of the Nigerian Law School.

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Her academic prowess won almost all the prizes including the best overall female graduating student among 6, 883 students that sat for the examinations. Consequently, she bagged a total of six Prizes: Best Student of the year, Council of Legal Education Star Prize, Corporate Law Practice amongst others.

In 2010, she received the University of Reading scholarship award and won recognition as the overall best in the international foundation programme. At the age of 20, she bagged a first-class degree at University of Reading, winning the Chancellor’s Award for the year, another first for a black female.

The Chancellor of the university, Sir John Madejski, on the occasion of the award presentation described Omonuwa as “a representative of our brightest and best students.”